Consider the following two statements: Business and ethics are mutually exclusive. Anything is fair in love and war. Do you agree? Substantiate the responses with examples.
Business and ethics are mutually exclusive. Disagree
It’s easy to get into the mentality that Wall Street (the ambiguous term we all like to use for American Business) is willing to lie, cheat, and steal its profits from the public, especially given the headlines of the last two years. However, this does not mean that business and ethics are mutually exclusive. There are many aspects of business, large and small, that demonstrate ethics is alive and well in business.
With regards to large businesses, there are many examples of companies that incorporate community service and charitable giving into their annual activities. Timberland is one example of a company who provides their employees with paid days of community service (where they get paid to volunteer in the community instead of coming to work). They charitably serve local (and global) communities with projects such as playground building, library renovations, and trail clearing. They have a goal of contributing 2% of their pretax income annually and work with many non-profit organizations to help disadvantaged communities. An argument can be made that his type of ethical involvement in the community bolsters their brand and position in the marketplace. The term for this type of marketing is, Strategic Philanthropy. So rather than being mutually exclusive, there is a school of thought that preaches that integrating ethics more tightly into business operations can ENHANCE business.
Here is a link to an article you can read/reference when discussing more examples of Timberland’s philanthropic activities.
With regards to small businesses, many are owned/managed by your average person who is trying to prosper by providing a service that people are willing to pay for. Most do not become super wealthy. They earn a living and provide for their families while providing services that members of their community are willing to pay for (either out of convenience or a lack of personal experience and training.) While providing this service, many of them create jobs and value in their communities, which, in my opinion, is about as ethical as you can be!
Anything is fair in love and war. Again, I disagree.
With respect to war, one obvious glaring example is the use of nuclear weapons. While the US is the only country to have used them in a war, we did so in a time when no other countries possessed the ability to respond in kind. Today, the use of nuclear weapons by one super-power on another would very likely begin a chain of cause/effect that could forever alter the quality of all life on the planet for a very long time. Would that be a fair outcome, or a reasonable price to pay to “win”? My gut tells me no.
In fact, most of the world seems to agree that all is NOT fair in war. There is specifically a World Court that presides over acts that are considered War Crimes that are committed during these conflicts.
With love, while the heart wants what the heart wants, it is not fair to force your love on another person who does not share those feelings for you. Love must be returned, otherwise it is not love but stalking/obsession/coveting or worse.